Ghana Registers Over 90 Syrian Refugees Believed To Have Relations In The Country

Post by Stephanie Ekowa

There have been over 90 Syrian refugees trooping into Ghana since the crisis in Syria. The Ghanaian government had responded to calls to accommodate some persons from Rwanda as well as Syria and Yemen due to the extreme humanitarian crises in those countries.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced that the country would be receiving more refugees from Syria. The refugees are said to have friends and relatives who reside in Ghana. But since the announcement, the Project Director of Refugee Board, Tetteh Padi says no Syrian asylum seeker has approached the board to apply for an asylum. But record of the ones already in Ghana are over ninety.

Lots of eyebrows have been raised among Ghanaians since word about the country’s acceptance of Syrian refugees got to them. Many fear that the presence of Syrian refugees posses a threat to national security. While others also criticized the government for spending tax payers money on the refugees. But The Ghana Refugees Board said that money from taxes had never been used for the refugees’ upkeep. Government also confirmed that the Syrian Community in Ghana has been funding the welfare of the Syrian refugees.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hannah Tetteh also said that the refugees allowed into the country were relatives of members of the Syrian community already resident in Ghana. The government of Ghana since then, has said there was no cause for alarm concerning the refugees, and also encouraged them to accept the decision of the government.

The crisis in Syria began in March 2011 as an anti-government protest between President Bashar al-Assad’s government and rebel forces who want him out. When the protest did not seem to be effective, it rose to a full-scale civil war. The country has been handicapped by an outrageous civil war ever since. Reports have it that more than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives, and over 11 million others have been forced from their homes since the crisis started.